Car-seat



fNoModel.) I A. M. RICHARDS.

I CAR SEAT.

N0. 437 938, Patented Oct. 7, 1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR M. RICHARDS, OF BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS.

CAR-

S EAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 437,938, dated October 7, 1890.

Application filed October 15, 1888. Serial No. 288,133. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, ARTHUR M. RICHARDS, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, and a resident of Bloomington, in the county of McLean and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car- Seats, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates more particularly to improvements in the backs of car-seats, and is especially designed as an improvement upon the invention set forth in United States Letters Patent No. 285,433, granted to me and one E. Dinsley, as joint inventors, September 25, 1883, in which patent is shown a pivoted panel, adapted to yieldingly support the shoulders and small of the back of the occupant of the seat, which panel, however, was designed to yield in one direction only, because the back was not reversed as to the seat, but only as to itself, having the opposite edges thereof uppermost at different times, according to the direction in which the seat faced, and only one face of the panel and back being used.

The prime object of this invention is to have a pivoted panel alike on both faces in the backs of car-seats capable of yielding in either direction relative to the frame of the back, whereby either face of the back may be utilized as the back of the car-seat, thereby enabling the use of a panel in a car-seat back in which the same edge always remains uppermost, notwithstanding the reversal of the seat.

A further object is to have the yielding supports of the panel of such construction that they may be concealed within the upholstery of the back, and consequently leave both faces of the panel free for use.

A further object is to have the yielding support of the panel of such a character as to offer the maximum resistance to the tilting of the panel, and which will automatically return the panel to its normal position in aline with the frame whenever the seat is unoccupied and the panel not forcibly held out of alignment by the weight of the occupant.

I attain these objects by the devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the carseat having a panel applied thereto embodying my invention; Fig. 2, aface view of the back-frame of a car-seat, showing the near half of the upholstery of the panel removed for the purpose of disclosing the-location and arrangement of the operative parts thereof; Fig. 3, a vertical section thereof on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a horizontal section taken on theline of the pivoting-rod; and Fig. 5 a view similar to Fig. 2, showing a modified form of yielding support for the frame.

Similar letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawm s.

l teferring by letter to the accompanying drawings, A indicates the car-seat; B, the frame, and O the arm thereof, to which are pivotally connected by means of links D the back-frame E in such manner that in reversing the seat the back retains its normal upright position and merely passes across the center of the seat, swinging upon the parallel links D, so that one face of the back is used while the seat faces in one direction and the reverse face is used when the seat faces in the full and dotted lines in Fig. 1, which represents the two positions of the back. This portion of the seat is old in itself and need not be described further in detail, the novelty herein described and claimed residing in the combination with a seat-back of the character described,of the panel having a structure specially adapted thereto and better suited for use by reason of its combination with said back. Within the back-frame E, which is skeleton in form and preferably rectangular in shape, is located a panel F, pivoted below the center of height thereof upon a rod G,provided with T-heads H, rigidly secured in the side bars of the back-frame, so as to prevent a rotation of the rod which passes loosely through the sides of the panel-frame, which latter may, if desired, be provided at this point with metallic plates 1, partially or wholly surrounding the openings in the frame through which the rod projects, so as to reduce the wear between these parts. Through slots in the rod G, near each end thereof and within the frame of the panel,

opposite direction, as clearly shown in the are insertedflat spring-bars J extending on each side thereof to or nearly to the upper and lower end of the frame of the panel, where their ends project into sockets or recesses formed in the angle-plates K at the top and weights L at the bottom of said frame, being free, however, to have the necessary movement in both of said members whenever the frame is tilted to either side of the center ine.

The weights L, by reason of the pivoting of the panel below the center, serve to assist the spring-bar in maintaining the same in proper alignment with the back-frame, being suflicientlyheavy to overcome the excess of weight in the upper portion of the panel, while the angle-plates K not only provide sockets for the ends of the flat spring-bars, but also serve to materially strengthen the frame of the panel.. Thus it will be seen that whenever the back of the occupant of the seat rests upon the panel it is free to yield thereto and in either direction, according to the direction in which the chair is facing, being resisted, however in its movement by the duplex ac tion of the spring-bars, which, being held rigidly near the center thereof by the pivotingrod G, are caused to bend in opposite directions, as more clearly shown in Fig. 3, so that whenever the panel is relieved of the weight of the occupant the tension of the spring-bars will cause the panel to return to its normal position in alignment with the back-frame and to remain in that position.

The pivoting of the panel below its center of height is desirable in order to allow the panel to assume the most comfortable position for the occupant resting against it. I have therefore made the present improvement on my before-mentioned patent, in which patent the pivotal point of the panel, when in a reversible back, must necessarily be in themiddle, by reason of the fact that the seat-back was inverted in reversing the back, the present improvement consisting in so constructing the panel-retaining spring and the pivot and combining them with the panel that both faces of the panel are available for use, and hence the panel may be used in a non-invertible seat-back, such as I have herein shown and described.

The yielding supports of the panel are of such a character that they may be readily concealed within the upholstery of the panel and to the sides thereof, where they will not in the least affect the softness and yielding nature of the upholstery norrender the back from top to bottom of the panel, ofiering the initial resistance to the deflection of the panel, while the shorter and stronger side springs J come into play later on, and act to re-enforce and relieve the longer and weaker center spring, and, if desired, the two parts of the shorter side springs might be made of different strengths and caused to operate at difierent times by allowing sufficient playroom in the sockets of the respective ends.

In conclusion I will state that while my yielding panel is especially designed for use upon car-seats, it is equally applicable to house and office reclining and professional chairs of every character.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. The combination of a seat-back having an opening therein to which is adapted a ro tatable panel, fixed pivots projecting from the sides of said seat-back, opening through the sides of the panel-frame, and projecting within said panel-frame, a flat spring secured to said pivot and extending parallel to the panel-faces and within said panel-frame, and fastenings for the ends of said spring, secured within said panel-frame, whereby both faces of said panel are left unobstructed, substantially as described. I t

2. The combination of a seat back having an opening therein to which is adapted a rotatable panel, fixed pivots projecting from the sides of said seat-back, opening through the sides of the panel-frame, and projecting within said panel-frame, a flat spring secured to said pivot and extending parallel to the panel-faces and within said panel-frame, and corner-braces Within said panel-frame, having recesses for the ends of said spring, whereby the latter is secured to said panel, substair.

tially as described.

ARTHUR M. RICHARDS. Witnesses:

DAVID A. BRUCE, F. E. VAN BUSKIRK. 

